at South Lamljeth, a catalogue being published of its contents, a 

 small volume now of considerable rarity.* 



On the death of the younger Tradescant,, which took place in 

 1662, this Museum passed by bequest into the hands of Elias 

 Ashmole, who had lodged in Tradescant's house, and who gave it 

 to the University of Oxford. There it has long been preserved 

 under the name of the Ashmolean Museum, kept for many years 

 in a separate building raised on purpose for it " under the 

 superintendence of Sir C. Wren," but now finding a place, at 

 least the Natural History portion, in the new Museum which the 

 University has lately erected, and where various other collections 

 have a standing with it. Thus the first Museum got together in 

 this country still exists, retaining its original reputation, though 

 the name of its founder should never have been set aside for that 

 of Ashmole, its subsequent possessor. 



Another collector of note in the 17th century, and deserving 

 mention from the circumstance of his having been an apothecary, 

 and thus affording an instance of the study of Natural History 

 being associated with that of medicine, was James Petiver. He 

 is thought to have been a native of London. He was, apothecary 

 to the Charter House; and he is said to have been "one of the 

 very few after the Tradescants who made any considerable 

 collection in Natural Historj'. He engaged the captains and 

 surgeons of ships to bring home specimens and seeds of plants, 

 birds, stuffed animals and insects ; and he directed their choice, 

 and enabled them to judge, in some measure, of proper objects, 

 by distributing printed lists and directions among them."t 



The celebrated Sir Hans Sloane, who combined the same two 

 pursuits, being both a physician and a naturalist, belongs to this 

 period. He bought Petiver's Museum, for which he is said to 



* Museum Tradescantianuni, or a Collection ef Earities preserved 

 at South Lambeth, near London. 12ino., p.p. 183. London, 165G. 

 t Pulteney's History of Botany, vol. 2, p. 32. 



